10 Things You Might Not Know About Samira Wiley

We trawl the darkest recesses of the internet for random facts about your fave celebs so you don’t have to.

By Ella Braidwood

Published: 2017.03.16 03:30 PM

It might be a while until Orange Is The New Black is back on our screens, but trawling the internet for random facts about Samira Wiley is keeping us going through this long, arduous wait. Here’s what we found.

1. She was still working in a bar during the first season of Orange Is The New Black and only left her job after customers started to recognise her and her friends urged her to quit. Samira told DIVA, “They said to me, 'Samira, what are you doing? You need to quit this job.”

2. She’s in a relationship with Lauren Morelli, who realised she was gay whilst writing for Orange. Lauren wrote in an open letter: “In Piper and Alex, I’d found a mouthpiece for my own desires and a glimmer of what my future could look like.”

3. She likes fish and chips, and beer. Well, Samuel Adams beer anyway. She tweeted: “Sometimes all I need is a Sam Adams and some good ass fish ’n’ chips to make it all all right.” Mmm.

Sometimes all I need is a Sam Adams and some good ass fish 'n' chips to make it all all right. 🙌🏾

4. She’s been BFFs with Danielle Brooks, who plays Taystee, before the show even started. In fact, the pair both went to performing arts school Julliard, and Danielle helped Samira to rehearse her lines before her audition.

5. She described her cover story in DIVA earlier this year as, “one of the best things” she’s ever done. It was one of the best things we’ve done too, Samira!

6. She has an incredible singing voice, which we found out when she sang “Amazing Grace” in the season one finale of Orange.

7. Religion is a big part of her life, and Samira says she “grew up in the church”. Her parents, who are Baptist pastors, have been described by Out magazine as “pillars of the LGBT religious community,” and their church was the only traditionally black Baptist church in Washington DC to perform same-sex unions in 2007.

8. She’s a binge watcher, just like the rest of us, telling Essence that she watched a season of House of Cards in less than a week. Impressive.

9. Samira says she was more worried about speaking German correctly than getting naked on Orange. She needn’t have been, as it was spot on.

10. Her idol is Regina King. Regina tweeted Samira about a reference to her from the show, and Samira got all cute and star struck. She tweeted back: “U r y i wanted to/thought it was possible for me to become and actor. U have always been my absolute fave.”